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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Birth Activist is hosting a blog carnival about women in history who have changed pregnancy and birth. As I'm always up for a writing exercise, and love blog carnivals, I started thinking. Who could I write about? Who has changed the way I view pregnancy and birth?

So I have figured it out! I am not going to write about a famous OB or Midwife in this post. Neither will I tackle the life and works of some obscure philosopher or psychologist.
I would like to give credit in this tiny little post to all those women out there who change pregnancy and birth every single day, out of pure conviction. By blogging about it, by posting articles on their Facebook pages, by talking about it to anyone who will hear it.
The unknown woman who has a passion for birth and a taste for change and goes to the battle every day without the prospect of being paid (or just slightly, from those enormous adsense revenues) or being popular (because advocating natural childbirth usually gets you the opposite of popularity). Those women who take the time to answer insecure women's questions on chat groups and forums online.

The way I see it, they are the ones who will change birth in the big sense. One mother at a time. They are the real driving force behind imminent social change. The ones who advocate by pure conviction.
Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of merit to the Ina May Gaskins and Jan Trittens of the world, and they should by no means remain in the shade, but if it weren't for the online activists, I would never have know they existed. The same goes for all those wonderful midwifes and Doulas out there. They are working marvels, for sure, but if it wasn't for online support, I would never attempt a homebirth for the next birth. I would have never become a birth advocate myself.

So to those women, who sometimes remain anonymous and some times become a little less anonymous... Thank you, thank you so very much for fighting for what you believe in with the mere incentive of maybe - just maybe - changing one person's opinion and experience of birth. I hope you know who you are, and know that you have changed me.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________If you would like to enter, there is still a little time:

Write a post featuring your heroine from pregnancy and childbirth history. (Your amazing woman does not have to be deceased to be included!)